Religious Exchange
This article details the many opportunities for religious exchange that are to come with the new silk road. The routes of the new silk road will be passing through multiple cities throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa, plenty of which have religious relevance to a myriad of belief systems. Missionaries will, in theory, be able to travel to and from other cities connected to the new silk road. People who are also interested in certain ways of life/religions can travel or make their pilgrimage to cities with holy sites or major churches, mosques, pagodas, etc. The New Silk Road is an opportunity for cultural as well as religious exchange. The ambitious project would make it so missionaries and other religious figures could get to many places in the world, without some of the risks they would have faced in the past. The project would somewhat promote a more spiritual global community due to the accessibility to different views, rather than always following the views that are held by a majority of their native community. Nations The countries currently participating in the new project on land are: China, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Armenia, Georgia, Albania, England, France, Spain, India, Vietnam, Burma, Taiwan, Egypt, Oman, Mongolia, and Finland. The Nations participating in maritime travel are: The Phillipines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Greece, and Italy. Russia, since the sacking of Constantinople, had been unofficially but widely accepted as the capital of Orthodox Christianity, with many cities including St Petersburg, Rostov, Moscow, and the temples of Velaam laying claim to multiple major churches and relics, with the highest percentage of Orthodox Christians out of any nation on earth. They also have one of the highest Jewish populations on earth. Mongolia is the native land of Tengriism, one of the largest spread and ethnically inherited beliefs in early eastern Europe's and Northern Asia's history. The city of Beshbalik, the deserts of Nogai, and the ruins of Qaraqorum are important pilgrimage sites for Tengrist shamans and initiates. Turkey is one of the cradles of Christianity, seating itself just north of Syria, with the Anatolians, Romans, Armenians and Khazars converting by the thousands starting in 73 AD. It also currently occupies Constantinople, home of the Hagia Sofia, and Antioch, the birthplace of the name "Christian". Before then, Christians were called "people of the way" and were also called Jews. Turkey had also begun hosting Islam as a majority religion around the mid to late 700s, being a very important foothold for the middle east to spread Islam into Europe. Egypt is the current seat of the Coptic church, but would change to Ethiopia, if Ethiopia so chooses to join the project. Coptic Christianity, one of the oldest branches of Christianity, Is the primary Christian denomination in the middle east, the Delta, and East Africa. The prize city of Alexandria is very relevant to Coptic history, being the birthplace of the denomination. Sudan does have the Coptic heritage city of Qasr Ibrim, but given the government of Sudan, it would be very unsafe to go to the city as a Christian.